By Virginia Master, Gardener Association
By Erica Jones, Guest Contributor
We are getting to the season of holiday bulbs. Most of these are warm climate imports; that is, they don’t survive overwinter outside at least for us folks in zone 6. They come in shades ranging from white to red and mixes of the two. We’ve never seen any plants with anything except green (strappy) foliage.
Amaryllis are a rather odd bird. They are really Hippeastrum and are a debatable cross between two species. Or they are their own species. Ah, those taxonomists. But I don’t think garden stores are going to have much luck selling “Hippeastrum bulbs” in the winter, hey?
In more than a few places I’ve seen, the recommendation to just ‘toss out the bulbs after flowering.’ Expensive compost! There are a couple of things to advise consumers to do in order to avoid this.
Hippeastrum, like most bulbs, really like it fairly dry; particularly during their dormant season. Whoever came up with the idea of suspending the bulbs over water should be composted. I have talked to fairly knowledgeable gardeners who have fallen for this trick and wished they had not. Nothing wrong with repotting this poor bulb in real media.
Placing the bulbs in your pot is a little odd as they like to have their heads sticking up out of the potting media in the air; probably to help us avoid rotting the bulb by drowning it from the top.
Probably the hardest part of the problem of growing them on past flowering is indoor light, and how to light a plant some 14” tall. Starting seedlings inside is one thing, but those blimey strappy leaves…your best bet is a cool south window. Without so much ambient heat, the leaves will not grow so fast and get so leggy. Then once the calendar gets past the average last frost date (May 6 give or take), they can go out in the garden. To prevent leaf burn, move them for the first day outside in full shade, second day out in a couple hours of sun, third day of more sun. One problem with putting them outside is excessive rain. They can rot if life gets really, really wet.
The University of Minnesota suggests putting the bulbs outside in the pot they flowered in, which is certainly easier when you bring it back inside in the fall. They tolerate being fairly pot bound so this outside-inside in the same pot should tide you over for a couple of years.
After you bring the pot back inside, park it somewhere dry and cool and let the foliage die back. Generally, you rehydrate the media if you want the bulb to start growing; but very occasionally, they will send up a shoot without any added water. This is what is nice about them; you can approximate the time when to start growing them by watering them about six to eight weeks before you want flowers.
Last but not least, label! Labeling is a lot of gardener’s nemesis. I am not sure how to alleviate this problem. Once you get one of these, you are liable to get at least one more of a different color or branch into paper whites. Paper whites (daffodils) are basically grown the same way.
